AN Indian couple have made a desperate appeal for help to save their son - after he was born with his heart OUTSIDE his body.

Priyanka Pal, 24, was rushed to the labour room of government-run Sultanpur hospital in impoverished Uttar Pradesh state last Wednesday night, where she gave birth to a baby boy.

But, to everyone's shock, the baby was born with his heart protruding from his chest.

The incredibly rare condition, known as ectopia cordis, affects only eight in every million births and 90 per cent of these are stillborn or die within three days.

Only eight in every million births are affected and 90 per cent of these don't survive [BARCROFT ]

"We were hoping that we would have a happy journey from here on but God had planned something else," said the baby's worried father Nirbhay Pal.

"We have been blessed with a son, but his life is in the balance."

Nirbhay, 30, who makes £3 a day working as a mason at local construction sites, was told by the doctors his baby will not live long with the condition, and needs immediate surgery at a better medical facility.